Archive for August 2016 - Page 5

I love it when bass players get together to jam, especially when they’re on such a high level of musicianship like Alex Spradling and Marco Panascia. In this clip, the double bass duo have a blast while tearing through the classic Thelonious Monk standard “I Mean You”, and their joy is infectious. Each bassist lays down solid walking lines and...

Bassist Preston Hubbard, who held down the low end for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, has passed away. He was 63 years old. Hubbard was born in Providence, Rhode Island and picked up the bass at 14 years old. He joined Roomful of Blues as a young man, where he was part of the first backing band for the Blues Brothers. In...

Fender has gotten into the mobile tuner game with Fender Tune, a free iOS guitar and bass tuner app. The app has auto tune and manual tune features as well as a chromatic mode for tuning flexibility. It has 20 pre-set tuning options plus the ability to dial in and save custom tunings. Besides being a tuner, the app is...

For my first column here at No Treble, I thought it might be fun to demonstrate a few actual bass parts I have come up with for projects I have recorded. One of the things I enjoy in the playing of the bassists that have influenced me is the use of interesting melodic and rhythmic devices – more often than...

This may be Zander Zon’s most ambitious effort to date. Zander plays three basses in this latest video, where he is once again joined by vocalists KJC, who also provide piano and violin on the track. Here’s their take on Coldplay’s “Hymn for the Weekend”.

The Kevin Barnes-fronted rock band Of Montreal has released its 14th studio album, Innocence Reaches. Davey Pierce (Yip Deceiver) handles bass, as he has for most of the past nine years (he didn’t play with the band in 2014). Long influenced by legendary rock bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, Of Montreal decided to add some more modern...

Tech 21 has announced a new version of their flagship SansAmp Bass Driver DI. The Version 2 model retains all of the functionality of the original while adding features to better suit modern players. The all-analog pedal now has a switch for the bass frequency to select between 80Hz and 40Hz, which the company says helps 5- and 6-string players...

Q: Admittedly, this is not a bass specific question, but I am curious to know your thoughts on arranging standards and original tunes for a jazz quintet consisting of trombone, alto sax, drums, guitar, and upright/electric bass. I’ve written 15 or so tunes for the band, and we play some standards (“Satin Doll”, “Ornithology”, “A Night in Tunisia”, etc.), but...

We first featured Periphery’s Adam “Nolly” Getgood with an epic bass cam video for their song “Make Total Destroy“. Now Nolly is back with another face-melting run-through with the song “Prayer Position” from the band’s latest album, Periphery III: Select Difficulty. The bassist rips it up with an absolutely crushing tone that cuts perfectly on the song’s blazing unison lines....

Sub Pop has released a vinyl reissue of Sunny Day Real Estate’s 1998 reunion album, How It Feels to Be Something On. Original bassist Nate Mendel did not rejoin the band for the record, opting to stay with the Foo Fighters. However, since that time, he has played on an album with some of his former SDRE bandmates and has...

Meet Marcin Sypniewski, a high school student in Poland who stays busy with school and fills every extra minute with his musical pursuit. Marcin got his start like many bassists – no one was playing the bass when he formed a band with friends – but he’s extremely happy with how that turned out. Marcin is this week’s No Treble...

Kala has revamped their California U-Bass series for 2016. The mini-scale, solid-body instruments will have reshaped necks and bodies, plus new placement for the fret markers on the fingerboard. “The California body and neck have been cut and sanded to smoother, more rounded edges so they provide more comfort for the player,” The company writes. “The feel is enhanced when...